What Everyone Gets Wrong About Elder Scrolls Lore

Avoid these 3 Big Mistakes you can make when learning about Elder Scrolls Lore, and how to avoid them.

0:00 - Introduction
1:48 - Misconception 1
7:30 - Misconception 2
12:18 - Misconception 3
17:15 - IMPORTANT

SOCIAL MEDIA:

[badluck]

The most common mistake of amateur loremasters is to link every theory to the Dwemer.

[blackfox]

As someone with a PhD in anthropology, Elder Scrolls lore is some of my favorite fictional lore by far! It’s surrounded by conjecture, multiversal thought, and contradictory evidence that leads to some of the most engaging conversations regarding lore I’ve ever had!

[emrek]

I've heard it said that the truth of the lore is best determined by where it comes from. In order, these are:
1) In game events
2) In game dialog
3) In game books
4) Out of game advertising
5) Out of game developer statements
6) Out of game fanbase theories
7) Out of game online comments
8) My uncle's best friend's cousin's inebriated ramblings
9) My posts

[etinarcadiaego]

The biggest mistake would be not extrapolating the entrity of your TES lore knowledge from the pages of the "Lusty Argonian Maid."

[DrFranklynAnderson]

Honestly, we need a series that explains how each part of the lore changed over the years/games. I was shocked to learn that Talos wasn’t a divine in Daggerfall, only being introduced as a result of the Warp in the West.

[dukecesareborgiaofvalencia]

About the drauger in bloodmoon, that was the skaals belief that the drauger became cannibals. The mainland Nords believed they served the dragon priests.

[zlengolann]

Mistaking the Hall of Countenance for the Hall of Attainment.

[SaerosTheDragon]

Hearing Heimskr gives me the urge to crouch, hide and nock an arrow 😆

[crystallinecrow]

Really excellent video. Personally, I think the inconsistent narrator phenomenon is one of the coolest things about this universe. In our own real world, history is told by the winners and colored by their perspective, until what we acknowledge as fact may never have even happened at all. That the lore and history of this world is treated the same way makes it feel very realistic and actually ENHANCES my immersion, rather than detract from it with "plot holes" as so many complain.

[justme]

To me, the biggest mental hurdle to overcome was wrapping my head around just how literal many of the myths and legends in the TES lore are, even when they go against everything we know about our own world.

Most contemporary fantasy universes still adhere to real life physics and biology, just with some added supernatural elements like magic and souls. But a star is still a star, a volcano is still a volcano, and an animal is still an animal. Not so in TES, where stars are literal holes in the literal firmament, geothermic phenomena are fueled by the actual heart of an actual god, evolution through natural selection plays a very minor role in the creation of new species, and the line between inanimate matter, living organisms, and incorporeal spirits is extremely blurry.

It's a very "classical" take on the genre, and is complicated by the fact that newer entries in the franchise tend to lean more towards softening the fantastical elements in favor of a more grounded, "modern" approach.

[jasoncuriale]

It’s genuinely crazy how so many of the lore community treat what’s essentially Kirkbrides fanfiction as actual canon solely because he used to write for TES

[baconbitzlol]

Alternate Title: Scott(?) talks about fundamental mistakes made in early FudgeMuppet lore videos for 18 minutes.

I think its remarkable how much their process has evolved and progressed over the years. Imo, they've become much clearer about making sure to impress the ambiguity present in every aspect of TES lore, and not presenting anything as hard fact, as well as presenting evidence to make us view the subject of their lore theory videos with more skepticism. This is all excellent, as it more closely mirrors how real world history and mythology are studied. Unreliable narrators abound, and you have to look at the totality of the information present, including context of the time, in order to draw anything resembling a conclusion.

[georgehouliaras]

The Elder Scrolls lore is basically like Tolkien's The Silmarillion. The coolest shit happened there and we will never see them.

[OuterRimPride]

Another one I would like to add! Nearly all our knowledge on Maormer prior to Elder Scrolls Online was taken from a very CLEARLY FABRICATED work of historical fiction. Now, ESO added some pretty good stuff on Maormer and you should check it out.

[grimnartusk]

i remember being young, and seeing my older cousin playing Oblivion.
He was a vampire, and i remember him hiding in the shadows during the day, and i just thought that was the coolest shit ever.

that game legit changed my "life" in a lot of ways, set the bar for RPGs absurdly high as well lol.

[phoenixsixxrising]

You know you're at the top of your field when you make videos teaching other creators! ❤

[Vahmung]

Honestly, part of the fun of this entire game franchise is the crazy lore and mythology that stems from it.

[Xolcm]

Not all retcons are created equally.

Oblivion retconned Cyrodiil because the technology at the time couldn't replicate Cyrodiil the way it was described in the lore.

Morrowind retconned the Bosmer for literally no reason.

[MarkoArillius]

11:02 Crazy thought but while you're arguing how creative Azura is, I'm thinking what the text for Daedra actually means if Daedra are clearly capable of creation on that scale, given that they create variants of Daedra races and even their domains. But maybe it's being literal. Maybe the difference between the two, Aedra and Daedra, is more then just foundational. I don't know about you but it really seems like the Daedra are way more active on Mundis. If Aedra and Daedra were the same, divided only by perspective of the elves, then Aedra should be just as prevalent and common in the games.

So what if there is a reason for that? What if the reason Azura and other Daedra are considered others is because they cannot Create, capital C. They cannot spin something from nothing, or from their own divine essence. Daedra use the pools of energy and chaos in their realms, seething primal power, to give body and form to their people, and their realm is less something they made and more something they warped.

The Aedra can Create, but are unable to alter what they've made very directly or interact with it. But the Daedra did not Create, nor can they. Instead they can Change and Alter, which is why they are so prevalent in the games compared to the Aedra. The Daedra can interact with us because they are allowed to change and alter Mundis, but the Aedra cannot to the same degree.

[marocfarisoin]

The thing I love about the Elder Scrolls, lore or in game, is how much we can learn and discover. Theories can be debated, and new evidence can be found through reading books and finding hidden structures